In commonly assigned application Ser. No. 531,390 (Newton), now U.S. Pat. No. 4,000,964, issued on Jan. 4, 1977, there is disclosed a method and apparatus for effecting coloration of a dyeable substrate by using an eluant, as described hereinbelow, to modify the appearance of an unfixed dyestuff in the substrate. In general, the dyestuff is applied and, prior to fixation, eluant is applied to modify the appearance of the dyestuff, the dyestuff then being fixed or allowed to fix. In certain embodiments, the dyestuff initially applied comprises a mixture of two dye liquors of different colors and having different fixation properties, so as to form an area of color. One dye may then be caused or allowed to undergo fixation, without fixation of the other. An eluant is then applied to displace the unfixed dye wholly or partly out of the area. Consequently, the area in question attains or nearly attains the color of the first dye and the area of the substrate around the first-mentioned area attains or nearly attains the color of the second dye. The second dye may then be caused or allowed to undergo fixation.
A divisional application based on the above-mentioned Newton application, namely, U.S. application Ser. No. 660,223, filed on Feb. 23, 1976, concerns the apparatus used in applying the dye and eluant. The disclosures of both applications are hereby incorporated by reference.